


Christmas In The Sand

by padfootagain



Category: British Actor RPF
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romantic Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 09:43:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16992621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/padfootagain/pseuds/padfootagain
Summary: Ben and you decide to join a cruise for Christmas. And the Christmas ball is the perfect occasion for him to finally gather his courage and tell you how he feels.





	Christmas In The Sand

**Author's Note:**

> Some Christmasy cuteness! Hope you like it!

Spending Christmas somewhere in the middle of the Caribbean was not really what you would have imagined. Of course, you couldn’t have refused when your best friend invited you to spend a week at sea with him. He said he had been given two tickets at work, although you couldn’t see why his director would have offered his cast tickets to spend seven days on a pleasure cruise. You didn’t really care though. As you sipped your cocktail, lying next to a large pool, taking in the warm sun that fell upon your face, you didn’t mind how he had managed to have those tickets. You had to admit that it was quite enjoyable…

“I bet your colleagues will all wonder how you’ve managed to get so tanned.”

You laughed, looking up at Ben as he sat down next to you, stopping his eyes from roaming down the length of your body as you laid down in nothing but your swimsuit.

“And I bet you’re soon going to turn as red as a tomato!” you mocked him.

“Now, that’s not nice to tease. It’s not my fault if I burn before I have a chance to tan.”

“I think it’s cute actually,” you laughed again. “Especially for your nose.”

“Ha ha ha…” he muttered, his tone sarcastic.

“You look like a clown then.”

“Thank you for reminding me. No, really, Y/N, thank you.”

You both laughed, and he laid down on his towel next to you. You tried to be discreet as you couldn’t help but look at his bare chest…

He picked up the script of the next movie he was to shoot, and you rolled your eyes.

“Don’t tell me that you’re planning on working while we’re here!” you protested.

He looked at you with sheepish eyes.

“I could read a novel if you’d prefer, but would it really change something?”

You chuckled.

“Can’t you just… don’t do anything?”

“No, you know I can’t.”

“Right… this crazy mind of yours, huh?”

“Yeah, I think too much.”

“I had noticed that. I think you should be more impulsive.”

“I’m working on it,” Ben defended himself.

You gave him a tender smile.

“Don’t make too much efforts though,” you said.

He quirked an eyebrow.

“Oh… so now you like your shy best friend?”

“I do.”

“Perfect, then I have no other efforts left to make!”

You both laughed.

“Thank you for coming, by the way,” he said.

“I was surprised that you would not go with your brother, actually.”

He shrugged, and you saw his ears turning slightly red.

“He’s with his girlfriend. And my parents are already mad because I won’t be with them for Christmas… if their two sons were to go and abandon them, they would have probably disowned me.”

You laughed.

“No, they wouldn’t have done that!” you giggled. “They’re too sweet. But they would have used a full ‘Benjamin’ at least twice!”

Ben winced dramatically.

“Better not take the risk.”

You both laughed once more.

“Well, thank you for inviting me. It’s a rather pleasant way to spend Christmas,” you smiled.

“I’m glad you’re happy to be here.”

“Of course I am!”

You exchanged a warm smile.

“There is only one thing I regret,” you said.

“What is it?” Ben asked, sitting up to stare at you.

“We have a _very_ large room. But we don’t have a Christmas tree…”

“There are Christmas trees on the boat.”

“Yeah… but we didn’t decorate one this year. And we’ve decorated our trees together for… years, you and I.”

An amused smile formed on his lips.

“Better not count, right?” he chuckled.

“Yeah, better not. It would be something like… six years?”

“Seven.”

“I was trying to make us both younger, Ben!”

“Sorry, sorry… six, of course, you’re right. I’m the one messing up with the dates.”

You both chuckled. But Ben quickly grew serious again, and he seemed to be thinking for a moment.

“You know what? I have an idea.”

He stood up quickly and offered you his open hand to help you stand as well.

“What are you up to, Ben?” you asked, narrowing your eyes at the sight of his mischievous smile.

“Come on, you’ll like it.”

You heaved a sigh, before taking his hand, and he pulled you up to help you rise from the ground. You picked up your handbag before following him.

“Where are we going?” you asked him as he guided you across the deck, heading towards the corridor that led to the large room that you shared.

“We do have a tree in our room,” he smiled.

“We have a tiny palm tree,” you laughed.

“We just have to make a few decorations ourselves, and we can decorate it.”

“Or… we could borrow a few decorations from other trees on the boat…”

Ben frowned, stopping in the middle of the corridor.

“You’re not serious, are you?”

“We would be just borrowing them.”

“Stealing, that’s stealing.”

You rolled your eyes.

“Technically it isn’t, as the decorations will stay on the boat and that I don’t plan to take them back home when this lovely week is over.”

Ben exhaled loudly, rolling his eyes.

“Oh, come on… please, Ben… just a few baubles…” you pouted.

“You’re not turning me into some kind of… thug of something.”

You laughed.

“Really? A thug?”

“Yes, a burglar actually.”

“You’re ridiculous. Come on, please…”

You gave him your puppy eyes again, and Ben heaved a sigh. He could never refuse you anything anyway.

He would have done anything to make you smile, and he knew it. Only you didn’t know, the drama of his life…

But he had decided to tell you about his feelings for you. After seven years of fake friendship, he reckoned that it was more than time. Sure, at the beginning he genuinely saw a friend in you. But quickly he started to see much more than a friend when he looked at you. More and more time spent together, and a bit later he was dreaming about you, and he called you every day when he was filming far away from home and… soon he was addicted to you in such a way that he knew he would never find a cure. You had been single for a while now, and he was certain that you were over your break up, it was the perfect occasion. So he had planned everything and taken you on this cruise boat. He was just waiting for the perfect moment to tell you now.

“If we get caught, I will blame you,” he warned you. “And only a few baubles.”

“Deal!” you nodded excitedly.

It was your time now to drag him down the corridor.

You reached one of the main halls in which there were several huge Christmas trees, and you slowly walked towards one of them.

“Ben, you take a look around and make sure no one sees me,” you commanded.

“That’s a bad idea,” he mumbled under his breath.

But you didn’t pay attention to his protest, and instead, you picked up a few Christmas baubles from the tree that you hid inside your bag.

“Watch out!” Ben breathed, pulling you so hard towards him that you let out a shriek of surprise, and collided with his chest.

He held you close to him, and you followed his gaze to spot two old ladies who were looking at you and Ben with disapproving looks.

You looked at each other, before exploding with laughter.

“I bet those two ladies will talk about that at dinner tonight,” you laughed. “We should get prepared, now they’re going to imagine things going on between the two of us.”

Ben forced a wave of laughter to pass his lips, but his cheeks turned crimson.

“Yeah, right…” he said, letting go of you, and scratching the back of his head, suddenly uncomfortable. “Talking about that…”

“We should go back to our room before someone notices that there were more baubles on the tree,” you interrupted him.

“Yeah, sure,” he nodded, and you walked back to your room.

The second you closed the door behind the two of you, you exploded with laughter.

“That was fun!” you said. “Let’s put them on the tree.”

“One day you’ll be the death of me,” Ben shook his head, an amused smile on his lips nonetheless.

“Stop being ridiculous and come give me a hand.”

After you had hung the decorations you had 'borrowed’ from the tree, you used some pages from one of your magazines to make garlands with Ben.

You were both sitting next to each other on the large bed that you had to share. Ben had offered to sleep on the large couch but you had insisted, telling him that after all this time being friends it was stupid.

It was your third day on this boat and during these past two nights he had barely slept, the knowledge of you being there, lying next to him keeping him awake almost all night long. And for the few moments when he was asleep, his dreams of you made him blush so hard…

You laughed at him when he glued a photo of a woman in bikini upon his brow.

“Here, this one would be good for you,” he said, placing the photo of a surfer on your head.

You doubled with laughter, but didn’t stop him.

“You’re so stupid!” you laughed.

“Stupid perhaps, but funny for sure,” he grinned triumphantly at the sound of your laughter.

“You are hilarious,” you smiled tenderly. “You always find a way to make me laugh. You… _You make me so happy…_ ”

You both blushed fiercely, looking down shyly at the pieces of garlands you were making.

“Well, that’s my job,” he breathed.

“No, it’s not,” you shook your head.

“I’m your best friend. It _is_ my job to make you happy.”

You exchanged a warm smile.

“What did you mean, by the way?” you asked him. “When I interrupted you next to the tree?”

His cheeks turned crimson again.

“I… was just wondering… I mean… you and Mike have broken up a while ago. Are you still single?”

You nodded.

“Yeah… I don’t know, it just made me think about a few things in my life and I’ve come to the conclusion that I shouldn’t… waste my time on cheap romance. I think I should try to be with someone better.”

You chuckled.

“I’m sure you won’t protest. You’ve never liked him anyway.”

“I had my reasons,” Ben shrugged.

“I guess I should listen to you more often.”

“Now, that would be wise.”

You both chuckled.

“Let’s put those in the tree too,” you proposed, carrying the paper garlands towards the little palm tree.

Ben slowly walked towards you.

“Y/N, did you know that they were organizing a ball on Christmas Eve?”

“Yeah, I do. But I guess it’s just… going to be boring.”

He nodded slowly.

“And I doubt that you would like to go as you are an awful dance,” you reminded him.

He couldn’t help but laugh.

“Actually,” he stuttered, stumbling on his words and cursing himself for it. “I… _I was wondering if… perhaps… you would want… to go there… with me… perhaps…?_ ”

You looked at him with wide eyes.

“You want to go to a ball?”

“Yeah.”

“Where you will have to dance…”

“Yeah.”

“With me?”

“Who else could I ask to?”

“Alright…” you smiled.

“Great.”

“Lucky for you that I brought a nice dress.”

He looked down at the garland in his hands.

“It doesn’t matter. Even in sweatpants and an old T-shirt you would still be the most gorgeous woman in the room.”

You stared at him, suddenly short of breath. But Ben didn’t look at you, and he merely cleared his throat.

“Let’s clean up everything, okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

It took him at least ten minutes to look up at you again…

——————————————————–

Ben was nervous. He wanted to do it tonight. He wanted to tell you everything during the ball. He was afraid that it would be a bit cliché, but he couldn’t think of any better moment. He straightened his tie for what seemed to be the hundredth time. He was waiting for you to walk out of the bathroom. He had caught a glimpse at your dark dress and he hadn’t stopped fantasizing on how you would look like in it ever since.

But not even in his wildest dream could he have imagined how breathtaking you looked in this dark, backless dress of yours.

His mouth fell open, and his chocolate eyes roamed down the length of your body, and there was so much awe in his gaze, you blushed hard.

“I’m ready to go,” you breathed.

“Yeah…” he whispered.

His eyes climbed up to your face again, and it was his turn to fiercely blush.

“Let’s go then,” he croaked, his voice hoarse.

He bit the inside of his cheek, silently cursing himself for not being able to hide his emotions.

You smiled, and you both walked out of the room and towards the large hall where the reception was organized. During the whole walk none of you spoke a single word. But when you reached out for his hand, Ben didn’t push you away. Instead, he intertwined your fingers together.

And both your hearts were beating so fast…

The party was as dull as you had imagined it to be, but you didn’t really mind. Ben kept on making you laugh, unless there was something more between the two of you that night. You both kept on blushing every time your eyes met…

After a while you were longing for a bit of fresh air, and Ben accompanied you outside. You breathed deeply the salty scent of the breeze that blew through your hair. You listened to the shushed roaring of the waves crashing against the boat as you leaned against a banister. You looked up at the shining stars and glowing moon, that were reflected by the infinite ocean. You heaved a sigh.

Behind you, Ben was struggling to keep breathing. He could see almost all of your back from where he stood…

“It’s beautiful,” you smiled, your eyes still wondering along the dark horizon.

Ben took a deep breath.

It was now or never, he could feel it. He wanted to tell you, he craved so much for finally admitting all this to you.

“Y/N?” he called softly.

You spun around, turning towards him again.

“Yes?” you asked him, tilting your head slightly.

“I… You’re really… breathtaking…”

You blushed hard once more.

“You look sharp too,” you said, giving him a shy smile.

Your favourite Christmas song suddenly started to play in the ball room, and the music was loud enough for the sound to reach your ears.

He offered you his open hand.

“Would you do me the honour?” he asked softly, a little smile on his lips.

You chuckled, slipping your fingers in his hand.

“Are you sure you want to risk it?” you asked, as you let him pull you closer to him.

“Actually, your feet are more in danger than mine.”

You both chuckled.

“I’ll take the risk,” you smiled, resting your hand on his shoulder.

He slowly started to make you sway with the music.

“You’ve always been the reckless one,” he joked, making you giggle.

You rested your head in the crook of his neck.

And you felt so safe, and peaceful, and happy in his arms… you wished this moment could last forever.

“Let’s stay here and dance,” you breathed. “Let’s… _Let’s dance until even the stars are gone to rest…_ ”

Ben tightened his hold on you, and you heard him taking a deep breath.

“Y/N… I know we’ve been friends for… what looks like forever,” he whispered, breathless. “But… I need to tell you something. I should have told you before but I was too scared that you wouldn’t feel the same.”

You looked up at him, but he couldn’t stop now, even if you were staring at him so intensely. So he took a deep breath, and dived…

“I… I love you,” he whispered. “Like… not as friends. And… I’d love to take you on a date once we’re back home.”

You opened your mouth to answer, but you were interrupted by loud shouts.

“Looks like it’s Christmas,” you smiled, still staring right into his brown eyes.

“Sounds like it,” he nodded.

“I love you too, by the way,” you grinned.

He grinned back at you.

“You should have told me sooner,” you said.

“You could have spoken first.”

“You seemed… unreachable.”

He frowned.

“You never made me feel like I was anything more than your best friend,” you added.

He nodded slowly.

“I’ll make sure to make you feel like you’re much more than a friend from now on,” he smiled.

He let out a low chuckle.

“Actually… I have to admit that I thought it would be harder to convince you to give me a chance than this.”

You let your hand slip from his shoulder to his dark hair.

“You’ve always known how to find good arguments,” you smiled.

You both laughed.

“Let’s not waste any more time though,” you said.

He nodded, leaning slowly towards your lips.

“Merry Christmas, Ben,” you whispered.

“Merry Christmas, Y/N.”

And while the rest of the crew and the tourists were shouting and laughing and drinking in the ballroom, you and Ben were (finally) kissing…


End file.
